QUETTA, Nov 1: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) secretary-general Agha Shahid Bugti has said that Islamabad has no option but to give Balochistan its constitutional rights.

He was speaking at a ceremony held here on Monday to launch the 'Bugti Dossier'.

He criticized the role of Islamabad and Punjab rulers and said that they had been plundering the resources of the Baloch people for the last 56 years and now they wanted to deprive the people of Balochistan of the coastal area.

He said the JWP leadership had serious reservations about the role of the parliamentary committee. However, he said, the JWP and its leadership were participating in the dialogue process for the sake of the Baloch people.

The JWP leader said the centre had never honoured its commitments in the past nor was there any hope that it would do so in future. "We will not allow Balochistan to become another Palestine. We will continue our constitutional and political struggle for the rights of the province," he added.

Mr Bugti also criticized the policies of the undemocratic centralism that led to imposition of one unit by merging the smaller provinces into a single province in 1955 and denied majority right to Bengalis that ultimately culminated in disintegration of Pakistan.

The JWP secretary-general said that the launching of mega projects like the Gwadar port plan was a conspiracy to deprive the Baloch people of their 780-km long coastal territory and convert them into a minority in their own homeland.

He opposed the establishment of cantonments in Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar saying that they were meant to use force against the Baloch people.

Senator Amanullah Kanrani, while speaking on the occasion, said the alliance of four Baloch parties had finalized a charter of demands which would be presented before the parliamentary committee in its next meeting.

The four-party alliance would adopt a joint stand on all the constitutional and political issues, he said adding that other parties could be accommodated if they desired to join the broader political struggle for national rights.